Elyria school board begins stadium discussions

Talk about building a new stadium reached an Elyria school board meeting Aug. 20, with board members open to discussion.
Board member Michael Gebhardt said he was asked to visit a meeting of residents – Steve Senegal, Terry Doan, Pete Schilling, John Haynes and Bob Dupont.
The group would like to meet with the Elyria school board, Gebhardt said. When he met with the residents, they showed him photos of the Perkins Pirates stadium, with new stands and a locker room.
“The pictures they showed me were very impressive,” Gebhardt said. “They mentioned Midview. Something was mentioned about Oberlin College, which is at a different level. They were talking about turf, and the same people put turf down in Midview and Oberlin.
“They said they are working on money, I think they have some people, who, if the ball got started they might come forward.”
Most of Ely Stadium is 85 years old, Gebhardt said, adding he thought it was built during government work projects.
“It is in bad shape, no doubt about it,” he said. “The visitor side bleachers aren’t that old, but they’re old.”
Don Boddy, president of Elyria school board, said he was approached five or six months ago about the same subject.
However, the school district was involved in a levy campaign at the time and Boddy told the group the board was not in a position to entertain talk about a stadium until after a levy passed.
Over the last year, the group wanted to do something, but plans were not in concrete, Gebhardt said.
School board members said this meeting was the first time the board discussed the stadium, located at 2018 Middle Ave., even though talk circulated around the community for quite some time.
Contacting an individual school board member is not the same as formally contacting the school board, members said.
“When we are not in session we don’t speak on behalf of the board unless we are empowered to do so,” school board member Kathryn Karpus said.
“They are good people you mentioned,” said school board vice president Evelyn France. “It creates a problem when we have staff get involved on stuff that we haven’t had discussion on and made a decision on. It should come through the superintendent, not the business manager or personnel manager.”
In the past, people tried to raise money for stadium renovations without board approval, Superintendent Paul Rigda said. The administration asked them to stop because the school board was asking voters to pass a capital improvement levy for building the high school, Rigda said.
“We’re not saying, ‘Don’t do it,’” France said. “But don’t go to our administrators. That isn’t okay.”
Members of the citizen group could not be reached for comment Aug. 20.